Kyoko Kawai PROGRAM DIRECTOR/COACH

Kyoko is a USA Triathlon Level 1 Certified Coach.  She joined the DC Tri Club in 2011 as a member of NTP. After she completed her first sprint distance triathlon (NTP graduation race), she has raced and finished wide range of triathlon races including Ironman 140.6 distance. She has qualified to be a member of Team USA Triathlon to represent USA Triathlon Age Group and has competed Draft-Legal Sprint World Championship races since 2018. She believes that NTP provided her a solid foundation and wants to give back to the program. 2024 NTP is her 3rd year to coach and manage the New Triathlete Program. She also coaches DC Tri Club NoVa weekly track workout in Arlington, VA. 


David Allen NTP CO-LEADER

David is a recent NTP graduate from the class of 2023. After completing the 2023 NTP goal race, he went on to complete a total of 1 Sprint, 4 Olympic, and 1 Half Ironman distance triathlons in his first year of racing, as well as win the Kinetic Cup 2023 Series for his age group. He is looking to complete his first full distance Ironman this year in Switzerland, having been talked into it by his DCTri mentors. Outside of triathlons, David is looking to complete each of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, racing NYC in 2023 and qualifying for Chicago in 2024 and, hopefully, Boston in 2025 (fingers crossed!). David credits the NTP 2023 co-leads for helping him figure out the right biking gear and helping him transition from short-distance swimming to open water. David considers himself a passenger princess that will readily sign up for any race as long as there is a ride. He is also a member of TriOUT.


Julie Billingsley NTP CO-LEADER

Julie is a USA Triathlon coach and masters swim coach.  She was a collegiate swimmer who went on to start racing triathlons approximately a million years ago.  She has a new goal of completing a triathlon in every state — which will take several more years to accomplish.  Julie joined the DC Tri Elite team last year and acts as liaison between NTP and the Elite team.  One of her favorite spots is on a pool deck helping triathletes become relaxed and efficient swimmers.


Lauren Jee NTP CO-LEADER

Lauren Jee joined DC Tri Club in 2023 as a member of NTP. She first attempted a triathlon in 2013 at the Nation’s Tri, which became a duathlon due to a sewage spill in the Potomac- very D.C. After a 10 year hiatus, Lauren decided to “tri” again completing 3 Sprint triathlons and 1 Olympic relay in her first season. An avid traveler and unenthusiastic runner, Lauren has found joy in long, slow runs in new cities and foreign countries. She is also passionate about open water swimming and yoga and is part of the DCAC Masters Swim Team.


Anne Ellyse Kania NTP CO-LEADER  

Anne Ellyse (pronounced “An Elise”) is a recent NTP graduate from the class of 2022. With a ballet and yoga background, she was not your typical triathlete- but thanks to DC Tri Club she has now completed both an olympic and a sprint distance triathlon, as well as a half ironman relay. She is happiest when moving, and also thoroughly enjoys all of the time in green spaces that triathlon training affords her. While she is not the first to cross the finish line, she IS the first one to point out wildlife to her friends on long rides and runs! Having recently gone through the NTP program herself, she is thrilled to be supporting an incoming class of athletes!


Iman Mcfarland NTP CO-LEADER

Iman joined the DC Tri Club as an NTP member in 2023. As a former D-1 basketball, she was looking for another challenge that pushed her both mentally and physically post-college ball. Having zero experience in the pool Iman was thrilled to have the NTP leaders build her confidence in the pool and then in open water. Iman completed the NTP goal race and found a new passion for triathlons. Iman in looking forward to assisting the 2024 class of NTP’ers.


John-Anthony Meza NTP CO-LEADER

John-Anthony, initially a cyclist, joined the DC Tri Club in 2010 as a member of NTP and completed his inaugural half ironman in Costa Rica in Oct of 2012. Then he and his husband adopted three kids and life changed! Now, more than a decade later, with no triathlons or open water swimming in over 10 years, he rejoined DC Tri and NTP in 2023 and enjoyed a season with multiple sprints including placing for the first time ever! He is excited to pay it forward for everything NTP and DC Tri has done for him.


Catharine Myung NTP CO-LEADER

Catharine joined the DC Tri Club in 2011 as a member of NTP. She also started the DC Tri Club Masters Swim program because she the level of swimming she did before NTP was on par with swimming up to the pool bar and not dying when someone threw her into the pool. Now she’s a level 2 US Masters Swim certified coach and enjoys helping everyone find their inner mermaid or merman. Catharine is also one of the leads of the DC Tri Club’s Slow2Mod group, and a member of our MOCO group. Hey – the rules say that athletes are allowed to crawl to the finish line. And that she did for her Half Ironmans, marathons, and various other distances.


Lauren Pittenger NTP CO-LEADER

Lauren joined DC Tri in 2017 after relocating to the DC Metro area from Atlanta, but began her triathlon career in 2010 when she decided on a whim to buy a bike and sign up for Augusta 70.3. Since then she has completed 4 full Ironman triathlons and too many 70.3’s to keep track of. She is an alumni of the DC Tri HIM program and Masters Swim  and is looking forward to getting back to training with other people after the past two years.


Glenn Thomas NTP CO-LEADER

Glenn joined the DC Tri Club in the fall of 2014 and signed up for his first triathlon in order to learn how to swim laps at the pool.  He said “I figured that learning how to swim in open water would make swimming in a pool easy–oh how little I knew about learning to swim. I currently race the Olympic distances and have gone to USAT Age Group Nationals several times. Last year’s race in Milwaukee was probably my most enjoyable race and looking forward to going back to swim in Lake Michigan again. I truly embrace multi-sportism so in addition to swim-bike-run, I like to mountain bike, rock climb, ski both alpine and nordic, and want to take up biathlon soon since its gotta be easier–its one less event eh?”